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Ms. Brooks' Art Class

Ms. Brooks' Art Class

The Visual Arts Standards

Understanding What Your Children are Learning

I am proud to have been a co-author of the new visual art standards, written in 2009.

The new standards were designed with rigor, and intended to reflect what and how art teachers already teach, but to "raise the bar" on student learning. A lot more goes into making art than the casual observer would guess!

The new standards are:

Observe and Learn to Comprehend. Students learn to look at art for inspiration and narrative, as well as learn academic art language (vocabulary), and concepts such as the elements of design and principles of art, important aspects of the creation process.

Envision and Critique to Reflect. Students learn to look at and discuss art (critique), to plan the work of art they intend to create, and then reflect on their successes, strengths, and areas for improvement.

Invent and Discover to CreateI. Students use the creative process, inquiry, trial and error, research, and other tools and means to create their masterpieces!

Relate and Connect to Transfer. Students make real-life connections to the works of art they create, the art and artists that they learn about, and transfer their learning to new situations.

These standards are not taught in isolation; most of the time, they were written to be integrated, and are taught simultaneously within an art experience...but they are not necessarily always assessed in a formal or integrated manner.